Couplers with extended emergency release



y 27, 1965 D. L. HERBERT 3,197,039

COUPLERS WITH EXTENDED EMERGENCY RELEASE Filed May 1s, 1963 f Q 34; as u l l6 a; 20 2 #3 FIG. I

I9 FIG.5 40 @'4I /V 5 -INVENTOR 5 l g 39 I @ngs'r DONALD 1.. HERBERT FIG. 4 wow United States Patent 3,197,639 Q'JGUTLERS WITH EXTENDED EMERGENCY RELEASE Donald L. Her'eert, Mansfield, Ohio, assiguor to The 01150 Erase (Iompany, Mansfield, ()hio, a corporation of New .iersey Filed May 13, 1963, Ser. No. 286,692 9 (Ilaims. (Cl. 213-74) This invention relates to draft appliances and, more particularly, to draft appliances incorporating release means.

A general object of the invention is to provide railway draft appliances adapted for preventing damage to car frames and the like during collisions between cars or trains.

An object of the invention to increase the travel of release means for draft appliances and car couplers.

Another general object of the invention is to provide means for dissipating collision energy in vehicular couplings.

Another general object of the invention is to provide a releasable mounting for vehicular couplers.

In United States Patents 2,802,580 and 2,802,581 issued August 13, 1957, to E. A. Larsson, there is disclosed coupling arrangements for railway cars embodying release means for permitting the parts of the car couplers to telescope together under excessive bulfing forces such as might result from car collisions and the like. The operation of the release mechanism permits the cars to come together so that the anti-climbers on the ends of the cars are effective to prevent the end of the trailing car from overriding the lead car.

The present invention relates to release means which permit the adjacent ends of colliding cars to travel a greater distance in relief of the collision movement than has heretofore been possible. Specifically, the release mechanism comprises a shear device in an interconnection or coupling between the car coupler and an anchor mounted on the frame of the car, such that the drawbar of the coupler may telescope or move through the anchor to permit relief movement of the coupler with respect to the anchor. The invention is embodied in a coupler similar to the couplers described in the above referenced patents providing relief movement in addition to that of the release means or those patents. However, the invention may be practiced separately in connections or in mountings for couplers generally.

Embodiments of the invention are particularly useful with cars which are designed to accommodate collision forces by telescoping of the engaging portions of the car.

The invention, together with further objects, features, and advantages thereof, will be more readily apparent from a consideration of the following specification and claims, taken in connection with the appended drawings inwhich:

' I FIG. 1 is a partial view of two cars showing the associated ends thereof, the couplers, and the supports and mountings for the couplers, all in side view;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of a coupler embodying the invention;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the coupler of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view showing the coupler and anchor of the invention after release operation; and

FIG. 5 is a top plan view taken in the direction 55 in FIG. 4.

' Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown two railway cars 1% and 11 which are connected by two couplers 12 and 13 at the adjacent ends of the two cars. The couplers 12 and 13 are of the same design and construction, ach having a part and a counterpart, respectively, of the asso- Patented July 27, 1965 "ice ciated coupler. Thus, the coupler 12 comprises a hous ing 14, an integrally formed drawbar 15, a sector flange 1d, and a coupler head 17. Similarly, the coupler 13 comprises a housing 18, an integrally formed drawbar 19, a sector flange 2t and a coupler head 21. The two coupler heads 17 and 21 have the adjoining parts thereof constructed and arranged for interlocking engagement and separation to couple and uncouple the two cars and draft apparatus. The construction and arrangement of the couplers 12 and 13, including a release means for the coupler heads, is described and illustrated in detail in United States Patent 2,802,581.

in the enlarged views of the coupler 13 shown in FIG. 2 and P16. 3, the coupler head 21 is carried by a coupler bar 22 which extends axially into the housing 18 and is resiliently held by a suitable draft mechanism. The coupler head 21 is supported from the coupler bar 22 by a pin 23, a vertical buffer 24, and a depending lever arm 25 on the coupler head. The coupler head pivots about the pin 23 to accommodate movements in the vertical direction and is normally held in a horizontal position by a yieldable spring member in the buffer 24. The coupler 12 has a coupler bar 26, pin 27, buffer 28 and arm 29, all similar to the corresponding parts of the coupler 13.

The coupler 12 is carried on the under side of the car 11 by means of an anchor 30 which supports the drawbar 15 and a sector bar 31 which supports the sector flange 16. The coupler 13 is carried on the under side of the car 11 by an anchor 32 which supports the drawbar 19 and a sector bar 33 which supports the sector flange 21). The cars 11 and 11 are equipped with anti-climbers 34 and 35 arranged between the cars at the adjacent ends thereof, as is known in the art.

The present invention relates to the connection between the drawbar 19 and the anchor 32 to provide a relief movement of the coupler with respect to the anchor upon application of an excess buffing force to the coupler, and is illustrated particularly in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the drawbar 19 comprises two laterally spaced arms or side parts 35 and 36 and an arouate yoke or end part 37 which are formed as an integral part of the housing 18. The parts 35, 36 and 37 of the drawbar 19 are of substantially U-shaped cross section with the flanges directed outwardly from the web of the section and conveniently cast as a unitary part with the housing 18.

The extremity of the drawbar 19, which includes the end part 37, extends about a vertically directed pin 38 which is carried by the anchor 32 in fixed relation to the frame of the car 11. Thepin 38 is received through an opening 39 in a bushing or slide 40 which is fitted between the side parts 35 and 36 and bears against the interior surface of the end part 327 of the drawbar. The drawbar 19 and the slide 40 rest upon and are carried by the bottom portion of the anchor 32 and the entire arrangement is adapted to pivot upon the pin 38 with the sector flange 20 riding upon and carried by the sector bar 33.

The slide it) is secured to the drawbar by shear pins 41 and 42 which extend transversely through the side parts 35 and -36 of the drawbar 19 and through the body of the slide 40. The shear pins 41 and 42 are conveniently in the form of bolts which have screw fasteners received over the threaded ends thereof and are anchored by means such as the wire anchor 43 which extends through the heads of the bolts for anchoring the bolts in position. The shear pins may, preferably, be of the form of the pins shown in my co-pending application, Serial No. 204,902, filed June 25, 1962, constructed and arranged to facilitate removal of the pin under conditions in which there has been only a partial shear of the bolt. The side walls of coupler bars to telescope into the coupler housing.

.5. the anchor 32 may be spaced or configured to permit insertion and removal of the shear pins 41 and 42.

The connection between the drawbar and the anchor may be similar to the connection between the drawbar 19 and the anchor 32, just described.

The functioning of the aparatus of the invention will be understoodby consideration of the effects of a collision between the cars 10 and 11.of FIG. 1. The condition of the collision is that the two cars are driven together under large decelerative forces so that large buffing forces are generated in the couplers 12 and 13. The couplers 12 and 13 are designed so that, under such circumstances, the connection between the draft apparatus associated with the coupler bars and the housing is severed. That is, the shear pins indicated at 44 are sheared and permit the With such telescoping movement of the couplers, the ends of the cars come together and the anti-climbers 34 and 35 engage without damage to the couplers, to the understructure of the cars, and without substantial override of the cars.

According to certain concepts of car design, it is desirable to construct railway cars with soft or collapsible end parts so that the engaging portions of the two cars may accordion or collapse under the force of the collision Without damage to the heavy under part or frame of the car. Such cars require couplers having a substantially greater distance of relief travel during collision in order to prevent damage to the car frame and couplers than cars of usual design having'n'gid frames throughout the length of the car. 7

According tothe present invention, additional relief movement is provided in the coupler illustrated herein by release of the connection between the slide and the side parts of the drawbar. Thus, the pins 41 and 42 are sheared after the pins 44 are sheared to permit move ment of the drawbar 19 through the anchor 32 and to permit the ends of the cars 10 and 11 .to telescope together until the force of impact is dissipated. It will be evident that substantial relative movements of the couplers with respect to the cars may be accommodated as a matter of design and that useful results may be obtained with ordinary cars under conditions of extreme collision forces.

In normal operation of the draft gear, the draft forces are transmitted directly between the end part 37 of the drawbar 19, the slide 40, and the pivot pin 38 so that the load applied to the shear pins 41 and 42 is independent of the actual load on the couplers under draft conditions. Conversely, under buff conditions the buffing load is applied directly to the shear pins 41 and 42, and the release function. can be accomplished for any desired buffing load by design of the pins 41 and 42. Thus, the pins 41 and 42 may be designed to be stronger than the pins 44 so that the pins 44 first shear when a certain buffing load is reached and the pins 41 and 42 shear subsequently at some higher buffingload. The pins 44 can be designed to shear at higher buffing loads than the pins 41 and 42 within the contemplation of the invention.

It is an aspect of the invention that the successive shearing of the different sets of shear bolts tends to dissipate or dampen the'force of shock. This function can be augumented by additional shear bolts extending transversely through the side parts 35 and 36 and successively engaged by the slide in its movement toward the housing 18.

It isto be understood that the foregoingdescription is not intended to restrict the scope of the invention and that various rearrangements of the parts and modifications of the design may be resorted to. The following claims are directed to combinations of elements which embody the invention or inventions of this application.

I claim:

1. A "coupler comprising a coupler housing, a coupler head with means for carrying the coupler head from the housing including a draft mechanism therefor, a drawbar on the housing, the said drawbar comprising a U- shaped piece with laterally spaced side parts and an end part away from the housing, the side parts being joined to the housing, a slide fitted within the said U-shaped piece between the side parts and the end part, the said slide having a through opening for receiving a pivot pin directed between the side parts, and a shear pin extending laterally through the side parts and the slide with the opening of the slide between the shear pin and the end part.

2. A car coupler in accordance with claim 1, in which the slide is fitted to and engages an arcuate surface on the interior of the end part of the drawbar for transmitting tractive forces between the drawbar and the pivot pin, and the slide has side surfaces thereof spaced from the interior surfaces of the side parts for movement along and between the side parts when released by the shear pin clue to application of excess buffing forces.

3. A car coupler in accordance with claim 2, in which there is means comprising a second shear pin connecting the. coupler head to the housing for releasing the coupler head and permit telescoping movement of the coupler head toward the housing upon the application of an ex cess buffing force, and in which the second shear pin releases at a lesser buffing force than the first named shear pin.

4. A car coupler in accordance with claim 2, and in combination therewith, an anchor comprising a pivot pin and the anchor having openings oppositely disposed with respect to the pin for movement of the drawbar through the anchor.

' 5. In a railway train comprising two cars, coupler means extending between the two cars and an anchor on each of the cars with connection thereto by a drawbar of the coupler means, the combination which comprises an elongate U-shaped drawbar having two spaced side parts and an end part associated with an anchor on one car, a slide received in the space between the side parts and the end part and having a vertical through opening, and a pivot pin on the anchor extending vertically through the slide, a shear pin extending transversely through the side parts and the slide in the direction of the remaining car from the pivot pin of the one car, all for transmitting draft forces from the coupler means directly to the slide and thence to the anchor and the said one car and for transmitting bufi'ing forces from the coupler means through the shear pin to the slide and thence to the anchor and car for releasing the slide upon the application of excessive buffing forces to permit the drawbar to travel through the anchor.

6. The railway train of claim 5, in which the coupler means comprises a telescoping coupler with release means therefor comprising a second shear pin, and in which the second shear pin releases at a lesser buffing force than the first named shear pin.

7. The railway train of claim 5, in which the anchor has a bottom part below the drawbar for supporting the drawbar, and the drawbar slides upon the said part during relief movement thereof.

8. A vehicular coupler and mounting therefor comprising an anchor having vertically spaced parts defining an opening in the longitudinal direction of the anchor and a vertically directed pivot pin in the opening carried by the parts a slide in the opening supported by the anchor and the pivot pin extending through the slide for pivotal movement of the slide of the pin, a coupler having a U- shaped drawbar positioned in the opening with the side arms of the drawbar on opposite sides of the slide, and a shear pin extending through the side arms of the drawbar and the slide in the tranverse direction thereof, all for turning movement of the coupler in the transverse direction thereof perpendicular to the pivot pin and the telescoping movement in the longitudinal direction when the shear pin is severed.

9. Apparatus in accordance with claim 3, in which the 5 slide is normally engaged with the end part of the drawbar in one longitudinal direction from the pivot pin and the shear pin extends through the slide in the opposite longitudinal direction from the pivot pin.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,020,445 3/12 Potter 2138 2,401,748 6/46 Dillon 188-1 2,557,105 6/51 Hight 213-1 6 Larsson 213-45 Larsson 21345 Dropkin. Cannon et a1 213-75 Cannon 213-75 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany.

EUGENE G. BOTZ, Primary Examiner.

LEO QUACKENBUSH, Examiner. 

5. IN A RAILWAY TRAIN COMPRISING TWO CARS, COUPLER MEANS EXTENDING BETWEEN THE TWO CARS AND AN ANCHOR ON EACH OF THE CARS WITH CONNECTION THERETO BY A DRAWBAR OF THE COUPLER MEANS, THE COMBINATION WHICH COMPRISES AN ELONGATE U-SHAPED DRAWBAR HAVING TWO SPACED SIDE PARTS AND AN END PART ASSOCIATED WITH AN ANCHOR ON ONE CAR, A SLIDE RECEIVED IN THE SPACE BETWEEN THE SIDE PARTS AND THE END PART AND HAVING A VERTICAL THROUGH OPENING, AND A PIVOT PIN ON THE ANCHOR EXTENDING VERTICALLY THROUGH THE SLIDE, A SHEAR PIN EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY THROUGH THE SIDE PARTS AND THE SLIDE IN THE DIRECTION OF THE REMAINING CAR FROM THE PIVOT PIN OF THE ONE CAR, ALL FOR TRANSMITTING DRAFT FORCES FROM THE COUPLER MEANS DIRECTLY TO THE SLIDE AND THENCE TO THE ANCHOR AND THE SAID ONE CAR AND FOR TRANSMITTING BUFFING FORCES FROM THE COUPLER MEANS THROUGH THE SHEAR PIN TO THE SLIDE AND THENCE TO THE ANCHOR AND CAR FOR RELEASING THE SLIDE UPON THE APPLICATION OF EXCESSIVE BUFFING FORCES TO PERMIT THE DRAWBAR TO TRAVEL THROUGH THE ANCHOR. 